


The Absence of Trinkets

by kijikun



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-18
Updated: 2011-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-27 12:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/295820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kijikun/pseuds/kijikun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'll be a better man than his father in this if nothing else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Absence of Trinkets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiki-eng (kiki_eng)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiki_eng/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta.

Hatter likes, for the most part, Alice’s world. Mostly because Alice is in it and, and there isn't much left for him back home. His family is gone, his shop is gone, his home is, well -- his home was his shop so yeah, that’s gone.

So, yeah, he’s not got much left, does he? Just Alice and his two jobs.

His first job is the construction job. It’s good steady _honest_ work. It keeps his hands busy. It’s nothing like working at the tea shop. Nothing like the intrigue of being a double agent of sorts.

Rather boring actually. But it brings in a steady paycheck. Money still works the same way here as it did in Wonderland. With money he’s able to take Alice out to eat at decent places and he can buy her pretty things that catch his eyes.

She must own a rainbow of tights by now they way he keeps buying them for her. He likes buying her things in blue and scarlet. Blue like the dress that’s still his favorite and scarlet like the tights she hides those amazing legs with.

Blokes at work give him grief for not buying her jewelry, but jewelry -- that’s the sort of things the Suits gave each other. Meaningless empty trinkets.

His Alice, she doesn’t have time for meaningless trinkets. She teaches martial arts after all. She needs practical things. Tights, socks, headbands, and hair ties.

Hatter remembers his mother’s jewelry box, full to the brim of things that sparkled and glittered, but he remembers also how sad she always was. How his father would be gone for weeks at a time in court and how she would smile when he came home.

And how her smile would go all watery if he’d brought her some new jewel. He used to think that meant she was happy; now, he knows better.

“I warned her about him,” his great-grandfather Hatter would tell him, when he’d gotten a little older. Too old for tales of Alice, at least the ones his great-grandfather told. “You don’t trust a boy that asks you to marry with some trinket, not something crafted from his own two hands.”

Hatter wishes he’d listened more to the old man he’d taken his name from. Listened more about the old ways. The ways of the Hatters.

“Hatter,” Alice says, touching his arm. “You’ve been staring at the snow for hours. Is something wrong?”

He loves how she calls him Hatter. Not David, not by his father’s Suit -- not that she knows his father’s Suit -- but Hatter.

“No, nothing's wrong,” he tells her, giving her a smile and then stealing a quick kiss. “Just thinking.”

Alice laughs softly. “Careful, people might talk.”

He kisses her again in retaliation for that remark. “I should head down to the shop. See if Mildred needs any help.”

That’s his second job, you see, a proper tea shop. It’s run by a little old lady from France. Hatter loves the smell of it and the fact he’s working with _proper_ tea but people are just as happy to have it. Mildred is a sweet lady; she pats Hatter’s hand and talks to him in French. He understands maybe one in five words, but he likes her.

She lets him experiment with different brews. Says he's got a real knack for it.

“You’ve been thinking up a new tea?” Alice asks, sliding an arm around his waist.

“Hmm, sort of,” he admits and turns his head to press a kiss to her hair.

He loves that he's free to touch her, kiss her, any time he wants. It feels like such a hard earned reward.

“Nothing I can say to convince you to stay home and make me a cup of tea instead?” Alice asks with a smile.

Hatter laughs. “I’m sure you can think of a few things, Alice-love.”

She twines her fingers with his and tugs him away from the window. “We can watch Labyrinth,” she coaxes.

He does like that movie. “Tempting...”

“I’ll let you rub my feet,” Alice says brightly, poking his leg with her sock covered foot.

Hatter laughs again. “Alright, I’m convinced. I can go down to the shop after work tomorrow, while you're teaching evening lessons.”

Alice smiles brightly at him and leans in for a kiss.

***

Hatter has been thinking of what his great-grandfather Hatter told him about the old ways of courting, the old Wonderland ways of courting, more and more now.

But what sets off his decision to go forward is Alice herself.

“We should get a tree,” Alice tells him one night as they curl together in front of the fire in the flat they share.

“A tree?”

“It’s almost Christmas,” Alice points out, snuggling closer.

Christmas, right. Wonderland had a celebration like Christmas once, or so it’s been whispered. “Right, Christmas. You decorate the trees with lights and bits of glass.”

Alice laughs. “Something like that. We used to always go and cut down a live one outside the city." Her voice is wistful as it always gets when she talks about her father.

He pulls her a little closer. “If you want a real tree, we’ll get a real tree. Decorate it anyway you like.”

She smiles up at him. “Thank you, Hatter.”

“Hey, making you happy is my job,” he tells her, then kisses her gently.

She bites his bottom lip playfully. “We’ll have to have Christmas dinner with my mom, but Christmas eve will be just for us. We can each give the other a present on Christmas eve, then we’ll open the rest of Christmas morning.”

“Another tradition?” he asks curiously, an idea already forming.

Alice nods. “Something like that.”

He thinks about the soft leather band his grandmother wore. He barely remembers her (she’d died when he was very young) but he remembers the band. A joining band, his mother had kept it in a special box after grandmother died.

He wishes he’d kept track of it.

He rubs his thumb across Alice’s left wrist. “I’ve liked your traditions so far.”

Alice’s smile is bright and happy.

***

Hatter goes back through the looking glass one evening while Alice is teaching lessons. It’s a quick trip. There’s only one person that might remember what should be on the band.

Charlie.

“A joining band?” Charlie asks. “For whom?”

Hatter resists the urge to roll his eyes. “For Alice. From me to Alice.”

Charlie gives him a look that's a bit protective and a bit crazy. “Joining is a serious thing."

“I know, I know. Look, I want to do this right. Which is why I want the joining band, not some trinket. Charlie, you're the only one that can help me with this.”

Charlie thinks. “I remember my mother’s,” he says softly. His eyes get faraway, misty. “And...”

Hatter looks at his feet. “It’s for Alice, Charlie. Wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

Charlie nods. “There’s only one thing that will do, then.” He moves away into his maze of things and comes back with a small box. “This was my mother’s.”

“Charlie, I can’t take your mother’s joining band,” Hatter protests.

“Of course you can,” Charlie insists, pressing the box into Hatter’s hand. “Only the best for our Alice.”

Hatter swallows hard, he’s not sure he’s the best for their Alice, but he’ll do his best by her. “For our Alice.”

***

Christmas eve comes before Hatter’s ready. He’s _sure_ he wants to ask, to give her the band, but he’s not sure she’ll have him.

Maybe she’s just not ready to settle down. Sharing a flat with a bloke isn’t the same as forever after with him after all.

Alice gives him a cast-iron tea set, one he’s been eying for a while. He didn’t know she’d noticed. “It’s perfect,” he tells her and it is.

He pulls out the box, a slim unadorned thing and hands it to her.

She opens it carefully as if she’s aware it’s something special.

When Alice looks inside, she looks a bit confused but not disappointed. “It’s beautiful, Hatter.”

It really is. The soft white leather gleams and the blue inlays looks as crisp as if it was newly made. “It was Charlie’s mother’s.” Hatter explains. “Somehow I’ve met his approval.”

A quizzically look crosses her face. “Hatter are you asking if --”

He drops down on one knee, like they do in her world. “Alice, will you do me the great honor and join with me?” he asks. “I mean, will you marry me?”

Alice face lights up, her smile brighter than any diamond could shine. “Yes,” she tells him happily. “Oh yes, Hatter.”

Hatter almost leaps to his feet to kiss her.

When the break apart she laughs softly. “You sort of pre-emptied my present for tomorrow,” she tells him.

“Oh?” he asks in surprise.

Alice moves away to the stockings and pulls out a small box. He opens it with shaking hands. Inside, is a wooden ring, inside the band is inscribed ‘To Hatter from Alice with love."

“I thought you’d like wood better than gold,” she tells him.

“I love it,” he tells her honestly, and kisses her again.

No trinkets for this Hatter and his bride.


End file.
